Sydney Trains delays causing chaos for the GreenWay

Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne has called on Sydney Trains to lift their game and sign off on the approvals required to allow the GreenWay project to go ahead.

In 2016, Council entered into a partnership with Transport for NSW to deliver the GreenWay missing links from Parramatta Road south to the Cooks River.

Council allocated more than $25 million to this project over the next three years, including more than $18 million of State Government funding.

“Council has allocated full funding for the plan and adopted the GreenWay master plan. We are now waiting on Sydney Trains to provide landowner consent to enable the project to proceed, but they are refusing to do so,” said Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne.

“I recently wrote to Sydney Trains’ boss Rodd Staples to bring to his attention to the impasse and I offered to meet with him to find a resolution.

“Despite the urgent need to progress the project, Mr Staples has refused to provide the consent, refused to my meeting request and refused to take up my offer of discussing the issue over the phone.

“If Mr Staples and Sydney Trains continue to drag their feet the GreenWay project is in danger of going off the rails,” he said.

Persistent delays from Sydney Trains have already forced work on the GreenWay to be postponed by a year, as the construction must be undertaken in the summer months to minimise impacts on migratory threatened species along part of the route.

The delays also put in jeopardy State Government funding, which must be used within set timeframes, including $1.5m of funding which must be expended by June 2019 and $7.2m of funding which must be expended by June 2021.

“This is a ludicrous situation - one Government agency isn’t talking to another Government agency and the GreenWay project is in danger of being derailed by their incompetence.

“Sydneysiders are well used to Sydney Trains passing the buck, but I’m urging Mr Staples to take responsibility, provide the consent and get the Greenway project back on track,” said Mayor Byrne.

Councillor Anna York, who moved the motion to adopt the GreenWay Master Plan, said that after many years of planning, as well as on-again off-again funding commitments from the State Government, Council is ready to make the GreenWay a reality.

“Our community, our Council, and apparently the State Government are committed to making this vision a reality – to creating a continuous active transport and biodiversity corridor through the Inner West. But we are completely stalled without the consent of Sydney Trains to begin the work.

“The last thing we want is to be pushed off track by Sydney Trains’ notorious bureaucracy and mismanagement. We are ready to work with them and find a solution to whatever the hold up is. But it’s time for Sydney Trains to get on-board and work with us to make this happen.”